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Dell Dimension 3000 graphics card upgrade
I have a dell dimension 3000 and i hve been looking to update the graphics capabilities. I purchased an ati radeon 9200. The card seems to fit all the requirements for the computer. It is a pci card. I have tried multiple times to install it but it has not worked. If someone could please tell me step by step how to install the graphics card including where to plug the monitor cable into and when, when and how to disable the motherboard graphics card. Thanks
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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January 4th, 2009 15:00
Before installing the card, restart the computer, press F2 at the Dell screen during POST to bring up the BIOS setup page. Navigate to the Video section and make sure that the Video is set to Automatic. Exit saving changes, allow the computer to boot. Go to the Device Manager, locate Display Adapters, expand it and find the Intel Graphics entry. Right Click on Intel Graphics to bring up properties. Go to the Usage menu at the bottom and use the drop down menu to select "Do Not Use This Device - Disable". Exit out by clicking "OK" where necessary. Restart the computer and verify that you see a low resolution, standard VGA screen.
If you see the VGA display, shut the computer down, remove all power, and install the graphics card. Remove all peripherals with the exception of the keyboard and mouse. Move the video cable from the onboard graphics port to the new graphics card. Connect power and start the computer. You should see a low resolution standard VGA display as you did with the onboard graphics. Do not go further unless you see this display. If you see nothing, you should first try disconnecting the power and resetting the NVRAM by removing the lithium back-up cell for about a minute. Re-install the lithium cell after a minute has passed, reconnect power, and again observe the display. If you still see nothing, try moving the card to another PCI slot. If you still see nothing, I suggest you try another card. The older Dells sometimes had trouble with ATI cards.
If you do get the VGA display, read the directions that came with your video card. Before you can install the ATI catalyst driver your machine must have NET Framework installed. The ATI page suggests downloading it from here: Microsoft NET Framework. If your ATI drivers disk has this, however, you can also install it from there. Once you have NET Framework installed, you can install the ATI driver for your card.
maranis
3 Posts
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May 10th, 2010 23:00
I just tried Jack's process and found a problem with it. Setting the "Primary video controller" in the BIOS to "Auto" will cause the BIOS to jump to the new card before the drivers can be installed.
I found that first setting the "Primary Video controller" to "onboard" forces the BIOS to use the onboard controller and allows BOTH cards to be recognized so that you can "see" with the onboard card as you install the new card drivers.
After installing the drivers then
1. turn off and move Display cable to New card.
2. Restart and F2 to enter BIOS
4. NOW you set the "Primary video controller" in the BIOS to "Auto"
5. Save and exit, and the BIOS will now use the new card and drivers.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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May 11th, 2010 08:00
I'm very glad that your procedure worked for you; it demonstrates that there is frequently more than one way to do something. The fact that the new video card is activated as soon as you start up, however, is not a problem. Windows loads a standard VGA driver for the card as soon as it is seen. You then see a "Found New Hardware" wizard just as you do with everything else, which most card manufacturers will tell you to cancel so that you can use the installation wizard from the CD that accompanies the video card.
For people who are doing this for the first time, the VGA display seen as the computer starts up is the first evidence that the card and computer are compatible and are working together. If you hadn't been able to see anything from your video card when you loaded the driver as you did, you would not know if the problem was a bad card, an incompatibility between the computer and the card, or just an error getting the driver loaded.
In the past I have encountered situations in which the video card would not activate at all if the video mode was set to Auto. In those cases a fellow forum member found that it was sometimes possible to use the On Board setting and use a procedure to extend the desktop to the second card. The driver was then loaded and the display was switched to the second card via the properties settings in Windows. The disadvantage of doing it this way is that you see nothing on the display until Windows starts up unless you have a second monitor that remains connected to the on board port.